It wasn’t the way in which Alphonso Davies desired to return to the sector in his hometown of Edmonton, but Canada’s captain was still completely happy to be there.
Davies got some running in before his teammates took on Uzbekistan in a pre-World Cup friendly at Commonwealth Stadium on Monday.
The strides gave him a probability to check out the injured hamstring that prevented him from joining the group for training camp in Charlotte, N.C., last week.
“It feels nice to get back on the pitch and do some running,” the 25-year-old Bayern Munich defender said after watching Canada down Uzbekistan 2-0.
“I’m completely happy to be home and I’m completely happy to be with the boys and support them.
“Whether it’s on or off the pitch, I’m completely happy to do it.”
Davies met up with the national squad in Edmonton on Sunday night, but how long it would be before he joins them on the sector stays to be seen.
Head coach Jesse Marsch has said the star left back is continuous the rehabilitation program set out by his club, and now that he’s with Canada, he’ll be monitored each day.
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Neither Bayern nor the Canadians want him to feel pressure to return back, Marsch added.
“Obviously when the games start, he’s going to wish to play,” he said. “But what we don’t wish to do is put him in a situation to suffer again and be vulnerable again.”
Davies has made 58 appearances for the senior national team, scoring 15 goals and contributing 17 assists across the stretch.
His biggest strike got here in November 2022 when he scored Canada’s first-ever World Cup goal in a group-stage match against Croatia.
A string of injuries — including a torn anterior cruciate ligament — have kept the young star from fiddling with the Maple Leaf on his chest since March 2025, and questions have lingered over whether he’ll return in time for this summer’s World Cup.
Canada kicks off the tournament in Toronto against Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 12.
Asked whether he’s holding out hope he’ll be ready for that game, Davies said it was too soon to inform.
“I can’t really say right away. Obviously I can say yes or no, but it surely all depends upon how the rehab goes,” he said.
“We just need to see how every part goes over the following couple of days.
“I just proceed my rehab, my progression and see how I’m feeling, day-to-day, step-by-step.”
Davies is providing the remainder of the group motivation because it prepares for the globe’s biggest soccer showcase, Marsch said.
All of them want to provide him a probability to play, the coach said.
“We’re all hopeful we are able to get it done within the group phase but we all know that the further we go on this tournament, the more time he’ll need to get well,” Marsch said.
“And what it’s going to be is a progression of a couple of minutes in the primary game. We would like to provide him a probability to be a giant player on this tournament for us. And so the deeper that we go, the higher probability we’ll have at that.”
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